Underarm Sweat - What Is It All About?
Underarms are generally not talked about much but they do get a lot of attention nowadays, albeit mostly in private. One of the most foremost acts of vanity in women is shaving their underarms. Men too are increasingly conscious about them too. Sexy or gross, boon or bane, underarms welfare is big business for healthcare America.
Besides appearance, the main contention with underarms is the sweat. The areas in the underarms have a relatively higher concentration of normal (eccrine) sweat glands, plus the existence of a type (apocrine) of sweat glands found only in specific parts of the body abundant in hair follicles. The underarms are hence expectedly sweaty.
Like other parts of the body, underarm sweat is for cooling purpose when that part of the body heats up from physical exertion or as a result of ambient conditions. It's also there for lubrication when there's prolonged rigorous movement between arms and torso that results in rubbing. Underarms sweat can also be induced by stress and anxiety especially through the apocrine sweat glands which are associated with hair follicles. This is the type of sweat which results in odor when they come into contact with bacteria. Although this fatty sweat has no known function, it is reasonable to speculate that the secretion provides some kind of emotional stress relief or pacification.
Underarm sweat in the appropriate amount under the right conditions is therefore normal and healthy. It's when there's excessive (Hyperhidrosis) or inadequate (Anhidrosis) sweating that it becomes a problem. Hyperhidrosis is rarely life-threatening while Anhidrosis is much more serious and often requires urgent certified medical treatment.
Fortunately, the lesser evil of the two is by far more prevalent. Millions of Americans, or around 1% of all people to be exact, are afflicted with the problem of excessive underarm sweat. It is also possible that the problem is accompanied by excessive sweat in other parts of the body such as hands (Palmar), feet (Plantar) and face (Facial).
Then, there are Primary Excessive Underarm Sweat and Secondary Excessive Underarm Sweat. The former is basically a discrete disorder of its own cause and origin while the latter bears a root cause in another separate medical problem such as diabetes, malaria, thyroid, fever, malignancy and so forth.
Again, underarm sweat is a natural and necessary function in our body and hereditary issues with it are not common. As such, chances are we can keep our underarm sweat in good order by sticking to the good basics of balanced diet, sound exercise and rest routine, and good lifestyle habits and discipline away from vices such as excessive smoking or drinking.
For more tips on Home Remedies for Excessive Underarm Sweat, go to http://www.sweat-free.com/underarm-sweat, a popular website that provides tips and resources to combat Excessive Underarm Sweat using Natural methods.
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/
Added: April 22, 2008
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